First use of Tarptent Moment DW

[Orangutan]

After the amount of deliberating I went through to choose a tent, I thought I'd post a quick thought about my first use of my Moment DW. Maybe it can be of use to someone else in my shoes? I was a breath away from buying the Notch, and so far am very happy with it. (By the way, thanks Franco for answering all those questions and giving your insight, and thanks too to the people at Tarptent in the US for helping me with my requests. Great to deal with!).

Coming from a cheap bivy that would leave my sleeping bag and forehead drenched, condensation was my main concern. I think the moment or notch would be great for either, definitely no problems the other day. I deliberately left all the vents closed to see what happened. There was a lot of condensation in and out, but my pack which was touching was not overly wet (I'll adjust the floor next time to increase the vestibule). The mesh and inner floor were dry as. During the night I did feel the odd breeze of air flowing through the gap at the floor.

The next criteria was that the tent was light weight - I'm constantly lugging way more than I need so a weight reduction was a bonus. The moment is heavier than the notch by about 300g I think, but I don't use trekking poles so the substitute poles I'd need brought them back to equal. I ended up with the carbon arch pole which is lighter, but not sure by how much? The whole thing weighed in at 1045g for those curious (That's the fly, mesh inner, carbon pole, seam seal, 4x8" pegs and about 12ft of extra guy line). Just hope I don't clumsily step on the pole while breaking down the tent. High chance of that before the morning coffee has kicked in! haha

I was tempted to go the notch because I may end up using trekking poles, but the larger interior of the inner and it's ability to be adjusted was why I went with the moment. I reckon I would've been happy with the notch too but had to choose somehow! The only issue I had the other night was that my sleeping pad slid down to the end of the inner. I painted the silicon stripes on the floor as suggested, but I was turning a fair bit that night - my sleeping bag is way too hot! I think I won't have the guy ropes tied through the silver section of the pegs next time either. There wasn't really any tension on them, and no wind. Just there as a trial.

Don't worry, I won't post each time I use it, or each time I buy something new. I just agonised over this forever...

[Onestepmore]

It's blue! What happened to the signature suicide grey?
Looks good (I bought hubby the Notch, but he uses poles)
Congrats

[Strider]

Just the camera I reckon OSM. Definitely Suicide grey to my eye!

Tarptent certainly offer great performance for the pricepoint. I have a Scarp 1. One tip - push your pegs all the way in

[Franco]

Hi
Thanks for the comments.
Nice set up but yes do push those pegs all the way in or if on hard soil, pile some weight on them (rocks/sand bags/logs)

You can reduce the mat slippage by striping (lightly) the bottom of your mat too :


As for the colour I think that the red and green on the soil fooled the camera, mind you on a dull day grey can look blueish.
At the same time that "grey" does change a bit from batch to batch so it can be a neutral grey but does go from a bluish to a greenish tint.

[Orangutan]

Yeah, it's the camera. In person the colour is more of a greyish camo green.
I couldn't push the pegs in any further. Was a hard clay we set up on. Would've been even harder but thankfully it had been raining.
Thanks for the idea of striping the mat too. I'm out of the silicon premix. Can you just thin the typical bathroom clear silicon?

[Franco]

Yes, the type to get is the translucent one .

Yes I shold have also added check that it is 100% silicone (it will say so on the label) so no accellerants or stuff like that.
Selleys Roof and Gutters is one type.

[Strider]

And neutral cure.

[Onestepmore]

Just the camera I reckon OSM. Definitely Suicide grey to my eye!

Not the camera, it's my phone. I read this last night on my iphone and it made it a pretty cheerful blue. Now I'm on the desktop it's definitely grey.
Lol, I got a little bit excited there!

[dancier]

Good to hear it's going well, I'm deciding between the Moment and Notch, I've got the Scarp 1 so I'm leaning towards the Notch because I want a big reduction in weight.

[Strider]

Don't bother with the Notch if you have wide shoulders...

[Franco]

I have seen that "shoulder " comment before ..well here, but I am not all that sure why.
The Notch can take a 60x183 cm mat so you need to be pretty wide not to fit inside there.
This morning I took this shot comparing the Notch with the Sublite.
Maybe it will give some idea of the shoulder room.

.I am inside the inner , on top of a Neo Air and I am only about 172 cm but there is some room to spare.

[Strider]

Franco, my shoulders touch the mesh on both sides of the Notch when laying on my side. Unless it was an extremely poor pitch?

[Orangutan]

Another advantage I scraped up when deciding was that if my ultralight backpacking mate and I are in terrible weather, I can unhook the inner and both fit beneath the fly to cook and play cards without a pole in the living space.

[Franco]

OK, shoulder room :

in this photo the net is 25cm above my shoulders. Note that there is plenty of foot room (about 40cm) at the other end for the taller folk
I am on top of a fully inflated 7cm mat (probably 5cm with me on the side)
At the point where my shoulders are the mesh to floor distance is 75 cm .
Now for the ones that could be interested in the space for two (playng cards or looking at a mat, long lunch breack out of the rain..)
you can do this :

First set it up with the poles upright , than spread them out from the inside. You need the apex guylines in place, not the two towards the camera , those are just for the half set up so that you can see the space inside.
Using the pole spread, the Notch has almost exactly the same usable space as the Moment does. (slightly narrower but more headroom)
I don't suggest spreading the poles during the night unless you are particularly confident on your set up skills (I would not do it...)

[Orangutan]

I knew I should've got the notch!.... Haha. I reckon the moment is going to last me many years too though. Can't go wrong with either in my mind.

[Franco]

The Notch came directly from the Moment and it just happened that the two pole design made the double wall option kind of obvious.
A lot of customers liked that, so Henry changed the Moment to a DW design too.
If I were not always using poles I would probably still use the Moment, sometime I still do.

[Giddy_up]

Quick question Franco, does the more solid inner for the notch have mesh on the roof or fabric?

Cheers

[RonK]

I haven't got around to using my new Moment DW yet, but would just like to ask if you sealed the seams?

It's many tents ago since I bothered doing this and have never been troubled by leaks. But perhaps Tarptent is different?

[Orangutan]

Yeah I did, after reading this on the tarptent FAQ page:

Do Tarptents need to be seam-sealed?
Yes. All seams over your living space should be sealed. Silicone is the only material that will stick to the fabric. Urethane sealer will flake off.

[Franco]

Giddy up
the top 1/3rd ,including the roof area of the partial solid inner, is mesh.

[Giddy_up]

Giddy up
the top 1/3rd ,including the roof area of the partial solid inner, is mesh.

Thanks Franco.

[RonK]

Yeah I did, after reading this on the tarptent FAQ page:

Do Tarptents need to be seam-sealed?
Yes. All seams over your living space should be sealed. Silicone is the only material that will stick to the fabric. Urethane sealer will flake off.

Yeah, I saw that too - but is it really necessary? When I bought a WE Dart II a tube of sealer was supplied but I never used it. I didn't seal my Hilleberg either.

[legend]

Yes, Tarptents DO need seam sealing.
You will have an unpleasant night in the rain if you do not.
It isn't a difficult job seamsealing, but I have Franco do it for me (I'm in Melbourne) on all mine - he does a brilliant job.
Henry has a great woman doing it now in the US, you ask and for $20???? it will be done before shipping - though the time it takes is greatly dependent on the weather and can take extra time to ship if the weather gods are against you (The process is done outside).
I'm very messy LOL.
Others in my club have done it themselves without any hassles - I just don't like drip-lines of silicon down the tent LOL.
Cheers
Chris

[Franco]

Yes do seam seal your Tarptent.
You will find folk that say they have used one for years non seam sealed and with no problems but let's say that no tent has ever been crushed by snow in my backyard (in Melbourne...)
Some people think rain is the stuff falling down in Melbourne today (drizzle)

Seam sealing is now at the new improved price of $30 .
BTW, if it is raining or snowing in Nevada City , seam sealing can't be done nor can it be done those days when they are really busy with orders or receiving stock.

As for drips, well I have dripped on some of the ones that I have done, in fact one was one of several that I did for Chris .

Have a rug impregnated with turp at the ready to wipe them off.
The problem here is that in some light those drips are hard to see therefore by the time you spot them they can be dry.

One doing seam sealing in Nevada City is Boots (her trail name) ; another Henry Shires groupie. (nice lady, nice work)
She is probably paying off her tent with her labour, being doing that for a few years now. (low US wages)

[RonK]

Henry has a great woman doing it now in the US, you ask and for $20???? it will be done before shipping - though the time it takes is greatly dependent on the weather and can take extra time to ship if the weather gods are against you (The process is done outside).

Bugger! Never saw that when I ordered. Would have happily paid for the convenience, as I live in an apartment and it's difficult to do this kind of thing.

Ah well, I'll just have to pick a sunny day and go down to the local park.

[Orangutan]

I set mine up in the garage with a 'biner connecting a weighed down back pack at each end, instead of the pegs

[GPSGuided]

Tacking on...

Have just seam sealed my Moment DW today and it wasn't difficult. Being first time with Selleys Roof and Gutter 100% silicone, I wasn't sure of the level of watery consistency that's required for the job. Looking at it now, I suspect I've made it a little on the thick side with a thin layer that's obvious to the touch. Reading elsewhere just now, I gather some have really thinned the mix to allow the solution to easily penetrate the threads and stitch holes. At least, mine is not thick enough to easily rub off with the finger. One advantage of doing the seam sealing is that it gives one the opportunity to very closely examine every single stitch point of the build. As it turned out, I found a 'largish' stitch hole at the apex of one of the side vents. Looking from the inside, it was letting a beam of light in. Brushed a thickish layer over that point and fingers crossed. If not, maybe it'll need a stick on patch of some sort down the track. Probably it's not something to call on Tarptent about but it's a detail.

A question though. This evening whilst admiring my work, I suddenly noticed the bucket floor of the inner was not made of a single piece of material but has a seam line going transverse across the middle of the floor. As such, should I have seam sealed this also? Googling around, I didn't see anyone else mentioning this. Anyone know? If it needs to be sealed, should one seal from the external surface or from the internal? I think this is reason to always use the Tyvek footprint with this unit to avoid damaging wear on the stitching.

[Orangutan]

I painted a bunch of lines across the floor of the tent to prevent slipping and don't remember a seam. If there was one there I definitely would have sealed it while painting the lines. Guess it would be a good idea to do the other side as well, will recheck!

[GPSGuided]

Ummm... Sounds like sealing is required both in the transverse floor seam as well as the fold ups on the four corners. Bugger, I'll need to mix another lot and the weekend has finished.

[Strider]

That's interesting. No transverse seam in either of my Scarp floors.